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11 DEC. 2023
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The European-Chinese Smile mission will reveal the interaction between the solar wind and Earth using four unique instruments. Each will collect a vital puzzle piece of information that, when combined with data from the other three instruments, will reveal the protective magnetic bubble that surrounds Earth in a whole new light.
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Labelled Smile spacecraft (artist impression)
Smile’s soft X-ray imager (SXI), ultraviolet imager (UVI) and magnetometer (MAG) are mounted on the spacecraft’s payload module, with the two MAG sensors mounted 80 cm apart along a 3-m-long boom. The two sensors that make up the light ion analyser (LIA) instrument are mounted on the spacecraft platform.
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Smile's science toolbox
SXI and UVI are remote sensing instruments (they take images from a distance) whilst LIA and MAG are in-situ instruments (they make measurements of particles and magnetic fields around the spacecraft). Together the four will work together to explore the properties of the solar wind and investigate how it affects Earth’s magnetosphere and leads to the auroras.
The pair of in-situ instruments (LIA and MAG) was built using knowledge and experience gleaned from past missions including ESA's Cluster and ESA/CNSA Double Star.
Find out more about Smile’s instruments here.
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UVI will image Earth's northern auroral regions
SXI is a wide-field lobster-eye telescope designed to map the location, shape, and motion of the boundaries of Earth's magnetosphere
LIA will help investigate the properties and behaviour of the solar wind, as well as the behaviour of Earth's magnetosphere where it meets the solar wind.
MAG will measure the strength and direction of magnetic fields around Smile to help us understand how the solar wind affects Earth
Looking into Smile's ultraviolet camera during spacecraft testing
Looking into UVI during spacecraft testing
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